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Wednesday, June 01, 2016

The Way We Are

Sarah Netanyahu is
under a dark cloud suspected of graft and corruption. And she's the
Prime Minister's wife. One of her former employees at the Prime
Minister's residence was recently awarded a 120,000 shekel (about
$30,000) verdict that Sarah had to pay for shorting the guy when he
worked for her. Another former employee has made similar claims, even
to the extent that Mrs. Prime Minister pocketed the monies collected
for returning wine bottles to the supermarket. Another claim, by a
caregiver who took care of Sarah's late father when he was infirm,
claimed on television, albeit speaking in the shadows with a
distorted voice, that she'd never been paid for her work, “nothing,
nothing, nothing.” Yet another supplier said that they were indeed
paid, and a check was provided to the police during their
investigation. But, says the supplier, the check was well short of
the monies owed. Lawyers for Mrs. Netanyahu have dismissed the
accusations as frivolous. One, they say, the police had no standing
making a recommendation for indictment since they have no power to do
that. Only the attorney general can recommend indictment. Two, they
dispute that Mrs. Netanyahu is not of sound mind, a rumor that has
been circulating in the press for several years. Three, they claim
that the charges against Mrs. Netanyahu are just more personal attack
that have no basis. Even the sum of money she allegedly owes is not
worthy of a criminal investigation. In other words, the attorneys,
who are well-paid and very competent, are using the classic lawyers
tactic of dismissing the claims of the plaintiffs and negating any
possible hint of guilt. Some pundits agree and wonder why money
issues are not cause for civil not criminal suits.

All of this would
have been very amusing if not for a recent report by Yosef
Shapira the Israeli State Comptroller who claimed PM Benjamin
“Bibi” Netanyahu could well be guilty of various crimes of his
own. Netanyahu has been sullied with suspicions that he
'double-dipped' into State coffers for trips he took abroad while
serving as Finance Minister in the mid 2000's. These trips were at
the invitation of various Jewish groups who paid for transportation
and housing. Netanyahu is suspected of charging the government for
the same plane tickets and hotel rooms. The report also states that
Netanyahu took money from foreign businessmen for his trips, and even
received illicit campaign contributions in cash.

However, the State
Comptroller's report took five years to come to light. Raviv Drucker,
an investigative reporter for Channel 10 TV news, had witnesses and
incriminating evidence of Netanyahu's misdeeds that he turned over to
the police five years ago. The police were slow to act. The attorney
general at the time, Yehuda Weinstein, was even slower to act. By the
time an investigation was completed years had gone by. Witnesses had
changed their stories. Charges were never brought. Drucker says he'd
even had an interview with one of Netanyahu's drivers who claimed he
took cash from businessmen and turned it over to Netanyahu for his
campaign, or some other use. Why did it take five years for these
charges to come to light? Analysts say that the police and the
state's attorney and Micha
Lindenstrauss, the State Comptroller at the time, were all
appointed by Netanyahu and did as little as possible to implicate him
in any misdeeds. Shapira, the new State Comptroller, did eventually
issue a report on the matter but according to observers even that was
watered down, missing important points. Legal experts claim that the
statue of limitations has probably run out on Netanyahu's alleged
misdeeds. The current chief-of-police, also a Netanyahu appointee,
said after the furor began in the press over Mrs. Netanyahu's alleged
graft charges, that the police should never have made their
recommendation to indict Mrs. Netanyahu public.

Some observers say
that if the situation wern't so serious, the leader of the country
and his wife suspected of illicit monetary dealings, and if the
previous Prime Minister Ehud Olmert hadn't already been convicted of
graft and corruption, then these charges could be ignored. But Israel
is surrounded by enemies interested in Israel's destruction. Playing
fast and lose with money and morals could erode Israel's ability to
defend herself. And send the absolutely wrong message to the general
public about acceptable behavior. Analysts say that leaders are
supposed to lead, hopefully in a positive direction. The direction
received by the PM and his wife, these analysts say, seem to be more
schlock than substance.

Now we come to
Avigdor Leiberman, leader of the far-right Israel Home party.
Leiberman's party has been beset by criminal charges. Members of his
party have been indicted for graft and corruption including
sweetheart deals, kickbacks, and running up private bills that the
State paid for. Leiberman himself was under police investigation for
corruption for nearly a decade. The charges were eventually dropped,
but some pundits saw the hand of PM Netanyahu in this. Leiberman is a
sometime partner of Netanyahu. They ran on a joint ticket in the last
election. And once Leiberman was the Director-General of the Prime
Minister's office under Netanyahu. Leiberman has often criticized
Netanyahu for not being forceful enough with the Palestinians, and
ISIS, and Iran. He reportedly said that should Hamas attack Israel
again Gaza should become a parking lot. He supported the soldier who
shot and killed a disarmed and shackled Palestinian terrorist who had
stabbed a fellow soldier. Pundits believ that saying Leiberman takes
a hard-line stance is a gross understatement.

The previous
Minister of Defense, Gen. Moshe 'Bogie' Ya'alon, criticized the way
the police and army were responding to the wave of terrorist
stabbings in the streets of Israel. Ya'alon made a statement
supporting his deputy-minister, a Lt. General, who started fireworks
by saying the trends in Israel reminded him of Germany before WWII.
This after the newly appointed army chief-of-staff Gen. Eisenstadt
came out in favor of restraint when subduing a terrorist, not
shooting and killing someone holding a scissors who was a good
distance away from causing harm to anyone.

Netanyahu reportedly
saw these statements as a polite military coup waiting to happen. He
put a lot of pressure on Ya'alon, who resigned his position, claiming
that Israel had lost her “moral compass.” Ya'alon, a former
chief-of-staff and highly-respected military man was replaced with
Leiberman who had never risen above the rank of corporal.

This all came at a
time when Labor party leader Isaac Herzog was in talks to join the
coalition with Netanyahu. The Labor party had been holding secret
talks with Britain's former PM Tony Blair, US Sec. Of State John
Kerry, President Hollande of Holland, and others who were pushing
for a peace agreement with the Palestinians. Herzog had long been
saying that the time was ripe for Israel to make deals not only with
the Palestinians but with “moderate” Arab states under threat by
ISIS and other radical Islamic fundamentalist movements. Blair and
Kerry even managed to convince Egypt's president Al Sisi to make a
speech in support of the peace agreement Egypt had with Israel.
Pundits believed that Herzog had made a deal with Blair and Kerry to
bring Israel to the negotiating table with the Palestinians in
exchange for Israel securing some sort of diplomatic ties with the
Saudis and others under ISIS threat all paving the way for Herzog's
entry into Netanyahu's government that observers thought would pull
Netanyahu back to the political center.

Netanyahu was
apparently not interested in the deal but was interested in using
Herzog as a bargaining chip to get Leiberman to enter the government
without making outlandish demands. Leiberman apparently agreed.
Netanyahu surprised Israel by announcing that Leiberman would be the
new Minister of Defense. The same Leiberman who had been a harsh
critic of Netanyahu's 'liberal' policies. The same Leiberman who had
been under investigation for a decade for corruption. The same
Leiberman who would now be in charge of one of the largest budgets in
Israel's economy.

As the new Minister
of Defense Leiberman presented himself as moderate, even going so far
as to say he wouldn't oppose a two-state solution. He met with the
top ranks of the army and tried to clam them. Some accepted his soft
words. Others said non-military men had been Minister of Defense in
the past and done well, like Moshe Arens under Yitzchak Shamir, and
Amir Peretz under Ehud Olmert.

But, still, some of
Leiberman's pandering to the moderate core of Israel didn't sit well
with Neftali Bennet, leader of the right-wing Jewish Home party.
Recently Bennet said he did not want a two-state solution to the
Palestinian/Israeli conflict. Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked, also of
the Jewish Home party, said no deals with arab states and the
Palestinians would happen on her watch.

Neftali Bennet,
Minister of Education, whose parents were American before immigrating
to Israel, once worked for Netanyahu, and who reportedly views Sarah
as a 'terror,' has instituted policies at the Ministry of Education
that some observers say warp the educational system, putting undue
stress on religious subjects. Bennet is modern orthodox. He is the
leader of HaBeit Hayehuda, (The Jewish Home), the inheritor of the
zionist religious party voters. His supporters are those who believe
in settlements in the West Bank, or Judea and Samaria. Shaked has
made outrageous claims in the past. Pundits say she is part of the
group aiming to neuter the Israeli judicial system which many on the
right consider “leftist” and against settlement.

Some observers say
that Netanyahu managed to neutralize the army's criticism of his
policy, drift even farther to the right by signing on Leiberman, and
side-step any corruption charges against himself by making certain
that by the time the facts came to light the statue of limitation had
run out. Other observers believe that Netanyahu exhibited
outstanding political skill and strategic thinking. He managed to
embarrass leader of the opposition Isaac Herzog, quell criticism by
the army, and expand his shaky 61 seat coalition to now include a
firmer 66 seat hold on the Knesset. And dismiss any move by Blair and
Kerry and Hollande to push him into a peace deal he didn't want or
wasn't ready for. In reply to these moves Netanyahu has said he
would meet with Palestinian president Abas anytime he wanted, one on
one, not as part of a committee at French President Hollande's
palace. Netanyahu has said he wanted to make a deal. Pundits are not
so sure. Netanyahu, they say, seems to be following in the footsteps
of former PM Yitzchak Shamir who did his best to do nothing about
signing any peace accords while in office.

Which brings us back
to Sarah who reportedly has great influence over Netanyahu. Or does
she? My personal story is simple. And Sarah wasn't involved. And the
few times I'd had to interview Netanyahu it was always like a meeting
with a star. I'd interviewed Shamir, Peres, Rabin, and others, but
never felt I was being granted a favor or an audience. With Netanyahu
an advance man always showed up to make sure the make-up lady was
ready, the sound technician was ready, the camera was in place and
the lights on, pointed at the chair waiting for him. Then he'd breeze
in, after his staff informed us Netanyahu was late for this or that
meeting and had no time, impatiently answer questions, and then
streak away.

I'd heard the
rumors that Netanyahu would have lunch or dinner with supplicants,
friends, or supporters and made certain to leave before he had to pay
the check or simply wait until someone else paid. I'd heard about the
transport company that moved the Netanyahu's possessions from their
private apartment to the PM residence and/or back to another
residence and then not paid. Of the electrician who did work for them
and thought of it as a patriotic duty. (He is also named in the
recommendation for indictment because besides his 'patriotic' duty
fixing up the Netanyahu residence he also received contracts from the
government without the required three estimates for the work.)

But all these were
rumors until I ran into the Netanyahu system for avoiding paying when
they could. What happened was I'd received a phone call from a major
Jewish organization in the states, who I won't name, that was holding
a fund-raising dinner. They'd managed to get video blessings from the
governor and the senator and the mayor of their state for their
cause. I was to get Netanyahu to make a positive statement, a
blessing from Israel. To do this I first called up the PM's office
and spoke to the staff-member in charge of such requests, an
American-born Israeli, who I also won't name. He said he'd make the
arrangements. But the next day I received a call from the local
representative of the same Jewish organization. Sorry, I was told,
but “Bibi” (Netanyahu's nick-name) had his own guy he used to do
video interviews. But, I said, his guy didn't get the phone call to
do the job, I had. 'Too bad,' I was told. That's the way it is. Okay,
I said, then I'm going to have to go public with this. My reason was
simple: I have to make a living. I'm not turning over one of my
clients to another guy who I suspected would then become the go-to
guy for the major organization, not me, when the PM or anyone else
had to be interviewed. “Are you planning to sue the PM,” the
representative asked, chuckling. “If I have to,” I answered.

The crises was
avoided. I was reluctantly granted the interview. Two cameras, two
crews, two angles, lighting guy, make-up persona, all in all a big
deal. Took forever to clear security to get into the Knesset, because
that's where the interview would be held, and even longer to set-up.
But finally we were ready. Cameras in place, lights in place, make-up
girl in place, empty chair waiting. And in comes the staff guy.
“Oops, sorry, very tight schedule,” he said mentioning a visiting
head of state that Netanyahu was meeting with in the Knesset. I was
in shock. Here I was, ready and waiting, money on the line, even the
major organization's representative on the set having flown in
especially for the interview. But what I'd encountered was simply
Netanyahu's way of negotiating. I envy his confidence and cool. I was
told Netanyahu had agreed to give a video blessing to a friend's son
for his bar mitzvah. If I would just change tapes, (this was back in
the day when Betacam tapes were used professionally) after the
blessing to the major organization, and record the blessing for his
friend's son's bar mitzvah, Netanyahu would find the time to give the
blessing for the organization. I instantly agreed.

And a few minutes
later Netanyahu rushed in, looked around, sat down, the make-up girl
put a napkin around his neck and applied the make-up. The cameras
started to roll. Netanyahu made a statement, serious, cold,
matter-of-fact. Then it was over. We switched tapes and then
Netanyahu launched into a warm, smiling, happy blessing for his
friend's son. Nice of him. (of course the friend could have been a
major donor.) But the PM blew the blessing. Half-way through the
blessing he got the kid's name wrong without realizing it. When he
reached the end he was out of his chair a second after he'd uttered
the last word. “Uh, Bibi,” his aide said. “What?” he asked,
turning to him. And the aide told him he'd switched names in the end.

That's when I got
the distinct impression that Netanyahu frequently made the same
blessing and had it memorized. He sat down and flawlessly began again
from nearly the exact spot he'd made the mistake, this time
completing the blessing with the correct name. Then he was up again,
and out the door. “Hey, wait a second, do you want me to send the
tape as is, with the mistake and the correction?” He thought a
second, and moved out the door. “Edit out the mistake,” his aide
said from amid the slip stream left behind by Netanyahu's fast exit.
“Who pays?” I called, but the aide was already out the door. I
turned to the representative of the major Jewish organization, who
shrugged an acceptance of yet another expense for this production.

Then it was go to an
editing studio, rent an editing suite and an editor, buy more tape,
and cut the piece together. Then make a home video tape to send to
Netanyahu's friend's family. All on the major Jewish organization's
budget. And that is only my little personal story. I can only imagine
what else Netanyahu has pulled to save a buck.But, hey, is this the
way to run a country? That's what many Israel's are asking now. Is
this the kind of leadership Israel needs? Or do you simply take the
good with the bad. Or, perhaps, that's just the way we are, like it
or not.